We’re pleased to present lawyer Andrew Langille of Youth and Work on what the law in Ontario says about unpaid internships. Here, Andrew focuses on the impact of unpaid internships on interns themselves, but organizations and businesses that use or hope to use unpaid interns must pay attention. It is crucial to know whether your intern is legally an intern (and therefore not subject to Ontario’s Employment Standards Act), or actually an employee. And the answer might surprise you.

Self-employment runs in my family. My sister’s 17-year-old is spending her summer days working in the family cabinet-making business. She reluctantly changed into more suitable footwear before heading out the door this morning.

The Ministry of Labour has announced that the safety of young and new workers will be the focus of a four-month enforcement health and safety blitz across Ontario beginning in May 2010. According to the government, young and new workers in Ontario are four times more likely to be injured during the first month of employment than at any other time.